Singlespeed & Fixed Gear"I still feel that variable gears are only for people over forty-five.
Isn't it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailer? We are getting soft...As for me, give me a fixed gear!"-- Henri Desgrange (31 January 1865 - 16 August 1940)

Has anybody powder coated their aluminum rims?? To me it would seem like they would have slight cyclical deflectionsover time and I was wondering if the powder coat would crack off over time. I could see it cracking while building the wheel as well. Am I overexagerating in my mind the amount the rim bends while riding or building. Also, what would you put on the perimeter of the rim to keep the powder from accumulating on the inside of the rim where the innertube goes? High temp foam or something of that nature? I guess even some powdercoating tape would work. What do you guys think? I want cream colored rims.

velocity deep v's are all powedercoated, i have a set. I think you might be underestimating the sturdiness of poweder coating, it produces a very strong finish.

Are you trying to powdercoat yourself ?? because its quite a process and requires alot of equipment. Im sure you can find somewhere local that will powdercoat rims for you to any color. Im in the process of doing this right now. And as for the powder getting in the inner tube area, most PC (powder coating) places know how to do all the prep work required to make sure stuff like this doesnt happen, and the setup actually constitutes a majority of any price quote you get from a PC shop, espicially for a set of rims.

the place im gonna use actually does all the powdercoating for Van Dessel, so maybe you can find a PC shop that has prior experience doing bike parts.

Actually, I know that powder coating can chip or crack. The powder is simply applied to an oppositely charged surface before baking and 'melting' the resin particles together while bonding to the substrate surface. If that surface is incorrectly prepped removing all grease and debris you could easily have a weak bond between the substrate and the coating. The coating could then crack or flake off. I am curious then to how well powder coating holds up to extreme bending. Would it crack off if you took a really big hit to a rim, like have to get a new rim hit? Has anybody trashed a velocity deep V and noted the damage to the powder coat?

Actually, I know that powder coating can chip or crack. The powder is simply applied to an oppositely charged surface before baking and 'melting' the resin particles together while bonding to the substrate surface. If that surface is incorrectly prepped removing all grease and debris you could easily have a weak bond between the substrate and the coating. The coating could then crack or flake off. I am curious then to how well powder coating holds up to extreme bending. Would it crack off if you took a really big hit to a rim, like have to get a new rim hit? Has anybody trashed a velocity deep V and noted the damage to the powder coat?

ive rallied my rear wheel pretty hard, ill post some pics when i get off work later tonight. And yea there is some visible cracking, but you can hardly tell. I wouldnt expect anything different considering its taken some massive hits.

as for proper prepping that is a symptom of poor worksmanship, and for any product, will affect the quality of said work. If you stick to a known brand/PCer the work should be of high quality and you wont experience any of those problems to any noticeable degree.

The PC'ers ive talked too all told me that they first do a sand blast to remove any paint, logos, debris. Then they clean it off and dump it into a special chemical stripper that then removes any further contaminents. Then they powdercoat.

Also anything that cant withstand high temperatures like plastic, some carbon fiber, and glues will melt or become deformed in the process.

and i'll say my powdercoated velocities have gotten a few scratches in them from hitting curbs, etc. and the powdercoating has never chipped. the scratches are through the coating but never caused it to chip.

I've found that painted/powdercoated rims will last a really long time, except for possible fading from exposure to the sun, or wear from brakes. Rims simply don't suffer from random abrasion or significant flexing enough to be a real danger to such coatings. Paint, and powdercoat in particular, tends to be flexible enough once cured to avoid flaking off due to typical rim use.